UAB Blazer Basketball

George's class got to take a field trip to watch the UAB Women's Basketball team play.  

He was hoping to get interviewed again, but instead he happily cheered with the crowd. He and his buddies had a great time. 

Robotics

William George's Robotics team is famous. 

Glows and Grows

It has been no secret that January has been lengthy this year. Normally, I have no quarrel with January, but this one has been long.  

The downstairs dry erase boards so often are filled with writing that I'm used to seeing the words, maybe glimpsing some words or phrases and having an idea of what is going on. For whatever reason, I had not focused on the boards enough, but recently I stopped short when a couple of favorable compliments caught my eye. 

The trio had made a list of "glows" for each other, along with some constructive "grows," and it made my whole month.  

GEORGE

Glows from Lauren: 

I love how social and nice you are to everyone you talk to. 

I love how you put a lot of dedication and determination into things!

Grows from Lauren:

Listen to mom and dad.

Be less angry.

Glows from Grace:

I love how nice and kind you are to us. For ex: If Lauren or I get hurt, you immediately see if we are kk. :) [Laughing emoji.]

Grow from Grace:

Work on your temper a little bit!!!

George's response: Thank you. I think you were just right. Thank you.

GRACE

Glows from George: 

I love how you always try to break fights and I also like how you always are uplifting others. 

Grows from George:

Need to stay calm.

Glows from Lauren:

I love how you care so much about everyone that you would probably give up your life.

I love how sweet and generous you are. 

Grows from Lauren:

Be less stressed. 

Don't give up easily.

Grace's response:

I love what my siblings said about me. They are right about all of these things. I also like how they told me to be less stressed/calm down and not to give up. I am going to work really hard to achieve these goals. Thank-you guys. Love you both to the moon and back. 

LAUREN

Glows from Grace:

I love how you make sure everything is the way it should be. For ex: If 2 of us were arguing, u would immediately fix the problem. 

Grow from Grace:

Be on your phone less and enjoy the things around you!!!

Glow from George:

I like how you are organized and nice. I like how you are social and help others out. 

Grow from George:

To be on phone less. 

Lauren's response:

I love the glows you gave me, that was really nice. I would like to improve being on my phone less often because it definitely isn't fair to you or myself. I should always remember the things happening around me. 

All 3:

We are a united team!

Spend more time and value each other!

Do not put each other down!!!

Argue less often

Always love each other; don't take one another for granted

Do not say things you do not mean!!!!!

Be together, not against!

Y'all. This blew me away and definitely made my entire month.  

Car Pool

Pixie's favorite thing to do is be in the car, participating in all of the drop off/pick up errands. She usually gets to go, but because she panics and barks at everyone, sometimes she loses privileges. Today, she got to go again, and her intensity while waiting for one of "her people" to walk through the door is at high alert. 

Pixie loves her humans.  

George + Snoopy

George gets bigger, and Snoopy gets grayer.

Science Olympiad

Today was George's first county Science Olympiad competition. With Robotics, our family has been true novices, having never experienced Robotics previously. However, we have a few years of science olympiad experience and knew what too expect.

George, though, was new too competing. He has an awesome coach, and Grace and Lauren helped coach him at home. However, it is hard to know what to research and study, and it's difficult to know if you are preparing adequately. And then, the girls told him there's nothing like finding a classroom in a big school you've never seen and sitting down with your partner to take a test.

George did GREAT. He and his partners were prepared, and they proudly earned fourth place finishes for their events. Competing for the first time as a third grader against other 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, this was a fantastic finish, and we couldn't be more proud!

We cannot wait for regionals at Auburn!

Pixie

We are almost there, y'all! February is getting close, and Pixie is already wearing Valentine's bows. 

Dark Winter Mornings

These dark winter mornings have us struggling to get up. Lauren and Grace wake up at 5:30 and leave for school at 6:30. Sometimes, when Skip isn't traveling, William George gets some extra time to snooze. 

Robotics

Robotics resumed with a competition on 01-09-20 (no pics :) and today. Skip and George arrived early, and Lauren, Grace and I brought pizza for an early lunch a little later. We are learning more and more about Robotics with each event and love this little community. 

Lunch Date With George

Today I had a long overdue lunch date with William George. Behind him to the left is the new building his school is getting, and he is getting excited about moving into his new classroom.  

Costco

Today was a one-two punch at Costco. We had been anticipating that my car needed new tires, and Costco had the best pricing. What we had not psychologically prepared for was the Costco purchases in addition to the tires which caused me to have to psychologically recover afterward.  

Sun Chips Zesty Queso did cheer us up. 

Interminable January

Y'all... January has got us feeling like this month will last forever. 

Happy Birthday to Gran!

Skip traveled last week, but we finally caught up to celebrating Gran's birthday yesterday. 

Happy birthday! We love you lots!

Safe Place

We had some tornadic weather, necessitating some changes (Grammie over for safekeeping, a canceled get together with his best bro) and a brief stint in our safe place. Pixie was outfitted with an old Build-a-Bear bicycle helmet because we want to protect her precious brainpower. 

Seventh Grade Spelling Bee

Congratulations to Lauren for her second place finish in the school-wide spelling bee yesterday. We are so proud of her, and of her friends who made awesome signs of support!

Acolytes at Communion

As mentioned many times, Lauren, Grace and George serve as Acolytes during the traditional service at our church. As such, they are sometimes called to serve communion. I never have my good camera for this occasion, and yesterday is no exception. However, their service was too beautiful not to capture, even without a nice camera. 

So grateful for the opportunity to serve. 

Travel: Nashville Over Christmas Break

The trio's winter break was shorter this year, as compared with past years. We usually plan a trip over the break, but given the smaller window we decided to stay home and just enjoy the holidays.  

But then we got antsy. We started planning a day trip to Nashville, but the plan kind of grew to more of a quick, three day trip. Skip located the all-important, indoor pool, and the trio had a good time swimming in the indoor/outdoor space. We explored the city by checking out the Parthenon and Vanderbilt University. We had lunch at the Gaylord Opryland, and the girls did a little shopping.  

Fun fact: We really wanted to take Pixie, but Skip was certain that the hotel (one he has frequented many times for work) did not allow pets. When we arrived, we saw a guest maneuvering THREE small dogs across the parking lot and into the hotel! Later observations revealed that there were numerous pets at the hotel. Skip was in some trouble with the fam until we read the pet policy, which stated that excessive barking would result in a $250 fine per incident. Basically, Pixie at the hotel would have bankrupted our family within the first hour. Skip went from being a "hater" to an exceptional money manager quickly.  

Second fun fact: We quickly realized that we have never been in a hotel or group lodging situation on New Years Eve. Things were festive and very loud! 

We love a generous breakfast situation. 

Vanderbilt

Exploring the Parthenon

Lunch at Jack Daniels

Opryland

Loved the indoor/outdoor pool

This was a perfect trip, and we're so glad to have worked it in.